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First-round retirements causing concern, as some wonder if first-round prize money just too good for a player to pass up despite being injured.

Canadian Milos Raonic returns against Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff during their men's singles first round match on the second day of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships on Tuesday. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Roger Federer returns to Alexandr Dolgopolov during opening-round play at Wimbledon on Tuesday. Dolgopolov retired as the result of injury after less than an hour. (Alastair Grant / The Associated Press)

WIMBLEDON—So you’ve queued overnight to get last-available tickets or shelled out a fistful of cash to buy far in advance.

But in the most anticipated matches you get Novak Djokovic for 40 minutes and Roger Federer for 46 minutes before they wave goodbye.

Not the fault of one-half of tennis’ Big Four.

Indeed, both had felt so bad about the back-to-back injury retirements by their opponents on Tuesday — Martin Klizan and Alexandr Dolgopolov, respectively — that they almost took up the chair umpire’s joking invitation to come back out for an encore appearance against each, even as a practice session.

“I found him in the locker room,” Federer told reporters after he’d won, by default, his 85th Wimbledon match, moving ahead of Jimmy Connors for most in the open era. “I told him maybe we should go out and play another set. It’s not going to happen.”

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Of course not. The rules forbid an exhibition performance to appease disappointed fans.

But those same rules, Grand Slam rules, need a serious re-thinking. Because first-round participants who are clearly ailing and possibly shouldn’t be competing at all have been nevertheless dragging themselves onto the court.

Want the cheque? Step foot on the court.

That’s 35,000 pounds to show up and play in the singles competition — a honking huge amount of do-re-mi for players who aren’t getting rich off tennis and, barring early upsets, aren’t expected to go any deeper in the draw.

“When I went out, I felt like there was a bit of a letdown from the crowd,” said Federer, of following the disappearing Djokovic onto Centre Court. “They couldn’t believe that it had happened again, exactly the same situation.”

Both matches were halted in the second set, a 2-love and 3-love.

Federer explained that Dolgopolov had justified his decision due to pull the chute thusly: “His explanation to me is that he felt too much pain on the serve, maybe on the jump. It (was) getting worse. At that point, obviously, when you’re down a set and a break, it’s getting worse, he’s in pain. I see the point. If you feel like it’s getting worse and you can hurt yourself even further, it is better to stop.”

But a lot of tennis fans weren’t buying it, with Dolgopolov — who claimed an ankle problem — in particular getting crucified on social media.

There’s no way of knowing for sure if chicanery was afoot or if either Dolgopolov or Klizan (calf) well knew, before their matches began, that they weren’t fit to finish.

“The question always is, should they have started the match at all?’’ Federer wondered aloud. “Only the player can answer really, in my opinion. You hope that they would give up their spot for somebody else, even though they deserve to be there but fitness not allowing them.’’

On the tour — excluding majors — rules differ. Injured players can receive their share of the prize purse when withdrawing in advance of competition, if they’ve qualified. That opens up a draw spot for a replacement. There’s no financial disincentive.

“If you can’t play, you still get your prize money twice in the year,” Federer pointed out to reporters. “Maybe the Grand Slams should adopt some of that, then maybe we would eliminate half of the (injured) players.”

He continued: “No, a player should not go on court if he knows he should not finish. The question is, did they truly believe they were going to finish? If they did, I think it’s okay that they walk on the court. Otherwise I feel they should give up the spot.’’

But it takes a virtuous person to pass on 35,000 pounds.

“It’s a lot of money,” said Federer, who’s gunning for a record Wimbledon title. “For some it’s more, for some it’s less. For some, they just want to be out there because they feel like miracles happen. Maybe the other guy retires or maybe the other guy is carrying an injury. If I win, I have a day off, maybe I will feel better on Thursday. All these things play into the equation.

“Miracles happen and you never know, if you hang around, you start drop-shotting the guy, he twists his ankle, you move on. Maybe a big cloud’s coming in. We’re here in Britain, so . . . ”

The bottom line is that, in the first two days of Wimbledon, there have been seven retirements — all but one of them by male players. And that probably is due to men playing best-of-five matches. Gritting out an injury is more likely in best-of-three, which the women play, for the same prize allotment.

“I hope it doesn’t happen,” said Federer, who favours the best-of-five format at Slams. “But I believe more players clearly would finish their matches. Looking at best-of-five, down two sets to love, basically the other guy is a set away. It’s a long way to go if you’re carrying an injury. Best-of-three, it’s more of a sprint to the finish line, whereas best-of-five is more of a marathon.”

Djokovic, who is on the players’ council, applauded the ATP’s adjusted rules but was not so skeptical that injured players would deliberately connive for guaranteed money. “This tournament has a special place in players’ careers. The aura of Wimbledon has always been the strongest of any other tournament. I’m sure that most of the players on the tour, if not all, feel that. Especially if you walk out on the Centre Court, there is a responsibility. I’m sure they tried their best but it is what it is.”

One player who wasn’t feeling at his best Tuesday — though there was no injury to account for it — was Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, loser in three straight sets — 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 — to No. 10 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria. A tough first-round draw, Thiem a semi-finalist at the French Open last year.

“Comparing the last six, seven weeks, it was definitely the worst I’ve felt all-around,” admitted Pospisil afterward. “I was trying to find solutions but I was just doing everything pretty mediocre. Honestly, I don’t know why today I was just not feeling good, with my legs. Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

At least Pospisil, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2015, isn’t done with Wimbledon 2017 yet; he’s competing in doubles with American partner Jack Sock.

It was one and done, however, for qualifier Bianca Andreescu, of Mississauga, making her debut at SW19 as a senior. The 17-year-old was eliminated by Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova 6-4, 6-3.

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